HOUSTON (Ticker) -- Hakeem Olajuwon scored 20 points and the
Houston Rockets used a decisive run to close the third quarter,
keeping the Denver Nuggets winless away from home with an 84-75
victory.

Danny Fortson hit a short jumper to give the Nuggets a 52-49
lead with 5:20 left in the third quarter. Keyed by five points
from Olajuwon, the Rockets closed the period on a 14-2 burst to
open a nine-point advantage heading into the final quarter.

Scottie Pippen had 10 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter for
the Rockets, who defeated the Nuggets for the eighth straight
time while rebounding from Sunday's embarrassing 40-point loss
at Portland.

Antonio McDyess scored 23 points and Fortson had 15 and 21
rebounds for Denver, which fell to 0-10 away from home. The
Nuggets have dropped 17 straight road games dating to March 17,
1998.

"I don't think they did anything special," McDyess said of the
Rockets' decisive run. "We kind of lost it mentally. We turned
the ball over three times in a row during that stretch when we
really needed some baskets. That caused us to get behind and we
couldn't catch up."

Fortson's rebounding total fell three shy of Portland's Brian
Grant for the most in the NBA this season.

"They outhustled us. They had three or four fast breaks at the
end of the third quarter and that was the difference in the game
beacuse they won by nine," Fortson said. "If we could've
stopped that, we could've been in the game."

After winning four of five games, the Nuggets have dropped a
season-high five straight.

Brent Price made a layup to give the Rockets 65-54 cushion with
10:36 to play. But the Nuggets responded with the next seven
points, capped by Eric Williams' 3-pointer that made it 65-61
with 8:16 left.

Olajuwon countered with two baskets and Price converted a layup
to restore the Rockets' double-digit advantage with 6:19
remaining. Houston took its biggest lead at 83-69 with just
under two minutes remaining on a free throw by Pippen.

"My knee gets stronger the more I play and I'm gaining
confidence," Olajuwon said. "I tried to mix it up offensively,
going inside and outside. Our guards have been penetrating
more, which is setting up more wide open jumpers."

Pippen made 7-of-17 shots for the Rockets, who shot 51 percent
(33-of-65), compared to only 30 percent (23-of-77) for Denver.
The Nuggets were able to stay in the game by making 25-of-33
free throws.

"I don't ever remember having a stat of holding a team to 29
percent," Houston coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "I just love the
foundation of defense. We also did a good job with our fast
break but we could get better."